Judge, 2 others file claim in attack

Wednesday

Aug 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 15, 2009 at 1:57 PM

STOCKTON - San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Cinda Fox and two others who were in the courtroom when she was attacked earlier this year by murder defendant David Paradiso filed claims Tuesday against the county.

Scott Smith

STOCKTON - San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Cinda Fox and two others who were in the courtroom when she was attacked earlier this year by murder defendant David Paradiso filed claims Tuesday against the county.

Fox's court clerk, Christina Romero, and an alternate juror, Nicholas Anastasiou, also filed claims. All three blame the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office for failing to provide security from Paradiso, 29, despite warnings. A Lodi police detective in court that day shot and killed Paradiso during the attack.

Attorney Albert Ellis said Fox, a state employee, is not eager to sue the county, but she can't rule it out. Fox had six months from the March 4 attack to file a claim, preserving her right to a future lawsuit, if she chooses, Ellis said. Sept. 4 marks six months since the attack.

"Judge Fox is not a litigious person by any means, and she's not someone who's excited about doing this," Ellis said. "She doesn't feel like she has an option at this point."

Fox was overseeing the murder trial of Paradiso, who admitted stabbing his girlfriend to death, when he stood up and attacked the judge with a jailhouse shank. Lodi police Detective Eric Bradley shot and killed Paradiso.

Fox awaits the findings of the interagency report that the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office spearheaded. San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau said his office is reviewing the report, but the report's release date is undetermined.

The report is expected to detail the security shortfalls from the French Camp jail to the Stockton courthouse. David Konecny, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said he was aware of the claims but had not seen them and couldn't comment.

Ellis said bailiffs failed to apprise Fox of a tip Paradiso's mother anonymously called in to the Sheriff's Office, saying her son had made threats. Fox and Romero don't name a dollar amount in their claims, which Ellis filed.

Nearly six months later, questions remain unanswered, such as whether any methamphetamine had been found in Paradiso's system and whether he had stowed a second shank in a jail holding cell, Ellis said. Paradiso's trial attorney has said Paradiso had drugs and the weapons.

The attack changed the lives of both Fox and Romero, who are personally close, Ellis said.

"Many of the things she enjoyed doing in the past just aren't enjoyable any more because of the trauma she endured," Ellis said of Fox. Romero, who was feet from the judge and defendant, also suffered trauma, Ellis said.

Fox is gradually returning to work at the Stockton courthouse but has yet to take new trials, mostly working in chambers on paperwork. She traded courtrooms with San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Bernard Garber.

Redwood City attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach filed the claim on behalf of the alternate juror, Anastasiou, who seeks $500,000 for the emotional distress caused by seeing the judge stabbed and Paradiso shot and killed.

Schwartzbach declined comment but confirmed that a reliable source established that Paradiso had methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death.

In the claim, Schwartzbach blames the Sheriff's Office for gross failures that led to the attack.